Family Gatherings
by Maah. Sakura Chinchila
Summary: At the very least, they knew they could find comfort in each other's bodies during those unbearable get-togethers.


**Family Gatherings**

 **.**

"Family gathering," My mom announced the previous day. She would always warn me at the last minute so I couldn't run away.

After so many years organizing the cutlery on tables and greeting the aunts I knew hated me and thought the color of my hair was ridiculous, I spent those family get-togethers in discomfort. It was pretty much my personal hell – one that happened once a month.

That's why, while receiving the guests at the gate, I was lazily leaning against the house's wall, making it clear that I was very unhappy with my task.

A tedious "Hi" left my mouth when one more stupid aunt asked me when I would stop dying my hair pink.

 _Never, you idiot_ , I thought. There was only one person I wanted to see that night, and it looked like they wouldn't show up. Great.

A sudden scream made me think that someone was calling me, so I tilted my head in that direction, but it was just my mom calling someone else's by my name again. It was the tenth time she did that today. Letting out a sigh, I shifted my gaze back to the gate, ready to greet the next annoying family member.

" _Hi, cousin_ "

My heart skipped a beat and I had to hold my breath while I looked up to Gaara, my cousin who was two years older than me. He was also criticized by our family for having dyed his hair - in his case, bright red. While greeting me, he briefly waved his hand, accompanied with a mischievous smile.

Trying to keep my entertaining guests demeanor, I waved back and then proceeded to hug and kiss him on the cheek, just like I did to all my other cousins.

"Your room, in forty minutes" He whispered next to my ear, "Don't be late."

I couldn't confirm in front of our relatives, so I simply kept the traditional smile in my face and greeted my uncle, who was coming through right after Gaara.

Although everything seemed fine for whoever was looking, my heart was beating incredibly fast.

Forty minutes until happiness, forty minutes to finally get what I had been missing for the past month.

A quick look at my cellphone told me it was 7:40pm. Gaara had told me not to be late, and I wouldn't be. I greeted a few late guests for thirty minutes, ate some snacks and, when everyone was happily talking and not paying attention to anything else, I pretended my shoes were hurting my feet and escaped.

I was anxious when I opened my bedroom's door and groped around to find the light switch. Instead, however, my hand stumbled on another's, and I had to stop myself from screaming.

"I don't want anyone to come in here to turn off the light, thinking someone forgot it on," Gaara whispered. He then closed the door behind me, and the room fell into almost complete darkness, except for the lights coming from my computer's green cooler.

Although still nervous from the sudden scare, I tried to find his green eyes in the dark and asked:

"So, what is it?" I grabbed a wild lock of my hair and put it behind my ear, "Something happened?"

He shrugged and held my hand, guiding me towards my bed. His eyes were already used to the dark, and he walked calmly while I stumbled on my rug.

"They say you should never take a boy to bed so easily," He said, hand still on mine.

"You're my cousin" I replied "And, technically, _you're_ the one bringing me to my bed"

He sighed, clearly unsatisfied with my answer. His hand quickly pulled up my dress a little, and his index finger drew imaginary circles on my left thigh.

The sudden action made me exhale all at once, as he let out a little satisfied smile.

"You're weird," Gaara said before gently pushing me to make me fall on my bed. My heart was beating even faster now. "Very, _very_ weird, Sakura"

I stared directly at his green eyes with my own, trying to find out what he meant by that. Before I could, however, Gaara's body was already on top of mine.

The way he was pushing me down made his body feel heavy, but the feeling was anything but bad.

Instead of protected, my cousin was making me feel trapped - And somehow it only made things more exciting.

"Why?" Mimicking his provocative behavior, I pulled him closer as I spoke. Gaara's breath was right into my face now. I ran my nails across the nape of his neck, and couldn't stop myself from smiling when I felt his body shiver.

"We spent a whole month apart, and yet you act like nothing happened, like not one second has passed since the last time we saw each other."

 _My life isn't worth living without you around_ , I thought, but decided to stay quiet. I didn't want to make things any more complicated. I knew Gaara wouldn't want anything with me anymore if he knew I was in love with him. Our encounters were simply for us to have fun. It was a way to run away from that unbearable family gathering, to be with someone who understood how those get-togethers suck.

I had fallen for him two months earlier, the first time we were together like this, when he told me about his parents' terrible fights. When we kissed, I immediatelly understood how things would work between us, and decided to keep quiet about my developing feelings.

It wasn't hard; we usually didn't talk between kisses. To be honest, we didn't talk much at all. But something was different this time.

I felt his breath upon my face again, now even closer, and I tried to leave my mind blank. _Here and now, and nothing else._

Gaara touched my nose with his, then my cheeks, and then my forehead. There wasn't a trace of playfulness on his face, but I knew he was provoking me. God, I wanted to kiss him so, so bad. We barely had one hour; we needed to be fast. We needed to run like mad and fulfill all our carnal desires - and emotional desires, in my case - in less than an hour.

When his nose touched my lips, I huffed in dissatisfaction. He then stared straight into my eyes and gave me the most charming half smile in the world. His head tilted a little as he teased me again:

"Something wrong, _cousin_?" He was emphasizing our relationship on purpose, and I huffed again. He replied with a full smile. His mouth was so, _so_ close.

Although Gaara wasn't kissing me, I felt like something really hot was touching the tip of my tongue, burning it and making my lips go numb. My body was nearly crying for his.

Seeing my complete despair, he sighed. I tried to understand what the sigh meant, but he simply nodded his head, as if saying " _Really_ now, Sakura."

His nose separated from my lips, and he spoke as he put some distance between us:

"I'm tired of teasing you," Gaara's voice was hoarse. He quickly took off his shirt, throwing it on the floor. I barely had time to take in his action when he pulled both of my legs, guiding me to the position he wanted me to be on bed - laying down defenselessly.

I didn't have to wait anymore. Soon his body weight was upon me, and it didn't take much for his mouth to find mine. This kiss was nothing like our first, which had been a gentle one. This one was much more aggressive. My hands ran across his entire body, and I felt his hands doing the same on mine in a fury of desire that seemed nowhere close to ending.

 _Fulfill our necessities,_ I reminded myself, just so I wouldn't let anything slip. I was scared of telling him that I loved him between kisses. I usually wasn't that stupid, but it could still happen.

His fingers were pulling my dress's zipper as I struggled to open his jeans' button. I hit my head on the wall, but it didn't stop me from kissing him or from trying to open his pants.

When he finally took off my dress I was completely ready for what would come next.

But Gaara stopped.

Simple as that, his hands stopped, his mouth left mine and he deeply stared at my confused green eyes.

"What happened?" I asked, feeling a little embarrassed. He didn't reply. Had I done something wrong? " _What is it_ , Gaara?"

"I can't," He sat on my bed "I'm sorry, Sakura, but I can't"

And then I felt really, really stupid.

"Oh my god. I'm such an imbecile." I laughed nervously. Some sweat locks of my hair were falling on my face, and I quickly got them behind my ears. "I simply obeyed you and came to my room for us to fuck," Gaara was staring at some random spot on the wall "You probably think I'm a whore."

He fell next to me on the bed, but still kept quiet, now mindlessly staring at the ceiling.

"Say _something_ , Gaara" I begged "Seriously, anything. Even if it's to call me a whore. I can't just lie here with things like this."

"It's just..." He finally started "You know, after my parent's divorce, I had given up. I thought I wouldn't be able to feel it anymore."

"Feel _what_?" I hated that he was talking in circles.

He turned at me, clearly furious because I had interrupted him.

"I like you, dammit." He quickly sat on the bed "Fuck." He seemed ready to stand up "Fuck it. Fuck it, forget about it. Let's forget about it."

"Hey! Wait!" I stood up to reach him and was able to grab a lock of his hair before he could get away.

"Ouch!"

"I said _wait_!" My heart was beating so fast now I could hear it in my ears. I wasn't sure what to think, but I knew what I had to say. "You like me? You're in love with me?"

He was pissed:

"Are you deaf? Now let go of my hair."

"But I... But I like you too!"

"What?"

"I'm in love with you," I was giggling now. "Since the first time."

I slowly released the grip on his hair, scared that he could try to get away, but Gaara turned around to look at me.

"Are you... Is this serious?"

My reply was to stand up and hug him with my semi-naked body. I leaned my head between his neck and shoulder, and it felt like it was made for me. It fit perfectly.

"It's serious." I murmured. "But I thought I would ruin everything if I told you."

He sighed.

"Well..." He hugged me back with a gentle, yet strong grip. "Our family already hates us anyway. It won't change much even if we get together"

I laughed at his misunderstanding.

"I was scared to ruin everything with _you_ , Gaara" I explained "I thought that if you knew I liked you, you wouldn't want to stay with me during these stupid gatherings anymore."

He shook his head.

"It would be easier if we could read each other's thoughts," He said, "Cousins don't have that power, unfortunately."

I hugged him tightly. Being with him was so good. Being with him like this, and not like a simple pastime. Knowing that I liked him and that he liked me too. It was perfect, almost magical.

"I think it's best if we start explaining it to our family" He said.

"Luckily we will be banned from those damn gatherings," I joked.

"Well, even if were aren't, there will always be your room and your bed."

The idea gave me goose bumps and he laughed at me, slowly getting away from out embrace.

"Come on, put on your clothes. Let's fix this."

He helped me put my dress back on and then put on his own shirt. Under the cooler's dim light, I smiled at him.

"Sakura," He called.

"Yes?" I couldn't contain myself from smiling.

He played with a lock of my hair, my smile reflected on his own, both of us happy and stupidly in love.

"I fucking like you."

I laughed, completely delighted.

"Me too," My smile widened, "I fucking like you too."

Then we laughed, holding hands as we left the bedroom, both ready to face another one of those family gatherings - This time, together.

 **.**

 **Thank you for reading! I wrote this fanfic back in 2013, and decided to translate it to English. It was really hard, however - But I'll keep practicing. I really hope I didn't make any weird phrasing or stupid mistakes (Although I bet I did). Anyway! See you.**


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